Luther on Ecclesiastes

For the past couple of months, my daily readings/prayer time has included an in-depth study of Ecclesiastes.  Each day I focus on just a few short passages, and even repeat those passages on other days.  After two months, I'm halfway through the book.

I'm also using Luther's Works, Volume 15, as a guide/commentary on the text.  In this volume, Luther comments and teaches on the passages, verse by verse.

The wisdom in Ecclesiastes is a lot to digest.  But when passages are taken slowly and meditated on, retention is better.  And the "renewing of mind" happens.  Such was the reason for my plan to take these readings slowly.

But what I didn't calculate in my plan was...Luther!  Luther wrote his works almost 700 years ago.  But it's like he's talking to me and our world today, explaining and using the text of Ecclesiastes to answer the question: 

As Christians, how do we look at and understand the world we live in, and how do we best live out our Christian lives in this world?

These are just a few of the take-aways that I've been meditating on.

*None of our plans happen unless God gives them success.  We can do everything right and still meet failure; unless the work is in God's timing, then all efforts are in vain.

*God commands us to work, but not to worry or be anxious.  Work hard and leave the outcome to God.  And work for the benefit of others.

*Men are inflated by a bit of success, and take the glory for themselves.  We should look to God's Word for guidance, and give Him all the glory.

*Man's heart is restless and not at peace with his present situation.  But man hasn't been given an inkling of his future in this world - only God knows the day of birth and the day of death.  So we should live in, work in, and enjoy the present, and do the work that lies at hand.

*The things in this world that we think bring contentment - success, pleasure, riches, popularity - they don't satisfy.  Contentment comes when we commit to God and His Word, when we trust Him, and let Him have His way.

*The world is fallen and when we see evil, we should say, "Such is the trouble in the course of this world."  But when we see good, we should say, "Blessed be the Lord who brings this good about."

*Incompetent people get promoted to positions of power.  Learn to dissemble (to smile and hide how you might feel about a situation).  

*Don't insist on rigid righteousness.  I myself sin and am unrighteous, yet the Lord loves me.  Make adjustments, overlook some things, but don't let things fall apart.

*Learn to "wink" at other's faults.

*Those who truly want to serve will have their kindness wasted.  When things are troubled, the heart is made better.  

Embrace Life

The movie, Unplanned, which came out in 2019, tells the story of a Planned Parent clinic director who becomes an advocate for life.  After viewing that film, I was convicted to regularly and daily pray for life.  My prayer was and is that - our local area, the county I live in, will quite simply Embrace Life.  That's it.

Fast forward to today -  there's a "leak" that the Supreme Court may issue a ruling that will overturn Roe vs Wade.  I'm taking that to mean that the legality of abortions would then be decided by the states.  

While it's not necessarily a good thing to be predicting what will happen, if Roe vs Wade is overturned, I foresee a battle breaking out.  Those people who are against abortion will be elated.  Those people who are for abortion will be making their cases and supporting political candidates who want to take on this fight.

But here's the thing - even if it becomes illegal in many places to have an abortion, the illegality of it won't change peoples' opinions or even actions regarding abortions.  You can't legislate hearts and how people feel about an issue.   

It doesn't really matter what the issue is - abortion, civil rights, taxes, medical care, wars.

Throughout history, people in different countries and areas of the world were continually looking for a leader who would make things right or better for them.  And still today, people look for that person who will make life better for them or make them feel better about their personal agenda or situation.

Even in Jesus's time, people were looking for the promised Messiah, and were thinking that he would come as a political leader or king.

But the kingdom of God was never to be this ideal utopian society that was going to be set-up and legislated by people and rules, rules based on a particular agenda.   The kingdom of God, the kingdom that Jesus ushered in and is ushering in - it's of the heart.  And our God is the only One who can change our hearts.

So when I pray that my county will Embrace Life, I'm praying that our hearts will be changed in that direction.  And that's a big prayer, for all of us.  

For those who feel strongly about the abortion issue, it's a prayer for people to embrace and love the person who needs help.  And for many people, it will mean getting involved in ways outside one's comfort zone, and becoming involved in situations and with people that will require time, energy, resources, and love. 

When I think about it, it's the same thing that Jesus did - He loved people, He got involved in their lives, He died for them...for me.  As Christians, that's our call, my call - to take His love and His care into the lives of others.

Embrace Life - not just in relation to the abortion issue, but for all people, for everyone we encounter and deal with, every day.

Houses of Healing

I'm reading The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and I just read my favorite section.  It's in the last book, The Return of the King, and it's called "The Houses of Healing."  In this chapter, three of the characters, who have been hurt in battle, are taken to the Houses of Healing, which is similar to a hospital.  And the outcome for their being healed doesn't look good.

Then Aragorn, who is the king, but it's not well-known that he's the king - Aragorn sneaks into the city and to the Houses of Healing, and he heals the people.  Then this is spoken, "The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known."

 

Aragorn not only heals his three friends, but he leaves the Houses of Healing, goes into the city, and heals more people.  

And the word went through the City, "The King is come again indeed."

When I first read that, ten years ago, I thought that chapter was brilliant!  I like it even better with the second reading.

The Old Testament has many prophecies about the coming Messiah, the One who would save the people.  When John the Baptist is uncertain if Jesus is actually that Messiah, Jesus says:               

Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.   Matthew 11:4-5 

One of the ways that the Messiah was to be verified and known would be that the Messiah could and would heal the sick.  And Jesus was that One who healed people.

I have people who I pray for each day, and a number of them have illnesses - they need to be healed.  And the majority of our church prayer requests are for sick people to be healed. 

When I pray for these sick people, part of my prayer is for healing, and part is for them to be comforted with knowing the forgiveness of their sins.  

And that's what Jesus came for.  I know that, if Jesus were even today walking around this earth, as He did 2000 years ago, He would be healing everyone, just as Aragorn did.  But more than that, Jesus would be proclaiming the forgiveness of sins.  

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. Matthew 9:35

We rarely remember that the physical sickness in our bodies is brought on by the sickness of our souls - our sinful nature.  

Jesus has compassion for our hurting physical ailments.  But He also wants our souls to be healed and for us to know the forgiveness of sins.

Are there Houses of Healing today?

Yes, there are!  Every Sunday, when I hear the gospel preached, when I hear the pastor proclaim the forgiveness of sins through Jesus - I'm in a House of Healing.

 

To Love and To Be Loved

When I read a book, watch a movie, or even listen to a sermon, I like to reflect afterwards, "What did I get out of that?  What can I take with me from that story?"

We recently watched the new movie version of Dune.  I'd seen the original movie, maybe 30 years ago.  I'd also read the book.  Honestly, the story just never grabbed my attention.

But it was family time; I watched anyway, and...nothing.  That is, nothing until...that one scene that I can't stop thinking about.

In this scene, the main character, a young man named Paul, is forced to be a "champion" for his mother and fight another man.  As Paul bests the man and asks him to yield, he learns that this is a fight to the death.  And Paul's mother responds, "But Paul has never killed a man."

That's when I started feeling what Paul must have been feeling.  He was going to take a life; and life, any life, is precious.  Paul is deeply moved as this man dies, and he exhibits kindness and compassion, even as he kills the man.     

We were created to love and to be loved, to know one another and to be known.  This truth is easy to say and to know, but it's not always easy to feel it.  In this movie, I felt it.

There have been a few times in my life where I've been privileged to feel that truth - and it's a feeling I cherish, certainly a gift from God.

God's Word says: 

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8

We can assent to or agree with that statement.  But do we feel it?  And how do we feel it?  How do we feel God's love?

There is an aspect of "felt" love when we become aware of our own sin, know the shame and helplessness of our situation, and are then brought to repentance by the gospel, by Christ's death on the cross for us.  There's a comfort and a feeling in that, in having God's love for us shown in the forgiveness of our sins.

And we want that feeling, that reassurance of being loved.  I think that's why a lot of church services and even Christian books attempt to evoke emotion or make us "feel good."

But I think a main way that we "feel" God's love for us is through other people. 

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  John 13:34-35

Just as He loves us, we are to love other people, to get to know them, to serve them, to forgive them.  In that "loving of others" is the feeling of love.

 

And loving others isn't easy; it's tiring, and it's risky.  We can and do get hurt.  But knowing other people, loving them, and the risk of being hurt - it's worth it, because people are worth it.  

 

It was worth it to Jesus, to be born as a man like us, to live among us, to die for us.  And He did it for love, because He loves us, because He loves me.  

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God...In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.  1 John 4:7, 10-12

 

The Rock of Escape

I'm currently reading and studying 1 Samuel, and I'm fascinated by how the book compares the life of King Saul to the life of David.  

Saul was anointed as Israel's first king.  But early on in his reign, Saul takes things into his own hands, he disobeys God, and he loses God's favor.

David becomes Israel's second king, and like Saul, David also sins against his God.  But David retains God's favor.

There's a lot going on in this account, and it gets complicated.  So I've been trying to wrap my mind around some general teachings.

First, I think Saul, when he becomes king, he truly wants to be a good king.  But in the midst of ruling, he's influenced by the people, by the culture, and by his own desires and sins.  Saul actually thinks he's doing God's work and following God's Word, but he isn't.  

Second, David enters King Saul's service, as both a warrior and a musician.  And early on, Saul becomes jealous of David, pursues David, and wants him dead.

The book has various accounts of David fleeing from Saul and evading capture.  In 1 Samuel 23, in a mountain area, Saul is closing in on David.  Then suddenly, Saul is called away to fight against the Philistines, and David is saved.

That place gets called "The Rock of Escape." 

Third, the Bible speaks of David as "a man after God's own heart."  And it's not that David doesn't sin.  As king, David commits adultery and murder, and plots to cover them up.

But while Saul looks to himself and tries to justify himself in his sins, David sees his own weakness and confesses his sin to his Lord.  

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight...Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.                 Psalm 51:3-4a, 10-11

David knows, trusts, hopes in, and reveres His God.  In this prayer, David likely remembers how Saul had sinned and then God had taken His Holy Spirit away from Saul.  And David prays that His God forgives him and doesn't take the Holy Spirit away from him.

As I read through 1 Samuel, I'm reminded of David's prayers, the Psalms he wrote.  David's heart is always looking to his Lord to save him, to be that Rock of Escape.  Whether in physical danger or spiritual need, David cries out to God for help.

And the Lord does indeed stay with David and save him, over and over again.

In the same way, He forgives me and saves me, again and again.  My prayer is to have that humble and contrite heart that David had - a heart that looks to the Lord in trouble, in need, and for forgiveness.   

Prayer:

Lord,

Keep me in true faith.  Forgive my sins, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.  Help me to be in this world, but not of this world.  Keep my eyes on You and your love, and not on my self and my own agenda.  Help me to love and to serve others.

In Jesus's name and with the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The Work

 Probably the best known verse in the Bible is John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

And the Bible is full of other passages that talk about God's love.  One of the best "pictures" of His love for us is given in Jesus's parable of the prodigal son.  In that story, the father is rejoicing and delighting in his lost son, who's come home. 

Of course, God's ultimate love for us was shown at the cross, where Jesus died for the sins of the world. 

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8

But the Bible not only talks about God's love for us; it also stresses that we are to love.  When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus replies: 

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind...And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.                 Matthew 22:37, 39

The Lutheran Confessions break the Ten Commandments down into two parts - those commandments about loving God and those commandments about loving one's neighbor.  I like how the Confessions give specific examples of how a person can keep each commandment, to love his neighbor, in a positive manner. 

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.  Romans 13:10

For about six months, I've been reading and studying the book Anatomy of the Soul by Curt Thompson.  Briefly, the book covers how our minds are both logical/reasoning and emotional/heart, and that we should renew and integrate our minds so that all our thinking (both reason and emotion) moves to thinking like the Lord.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.  Romans 12:2a

Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.  Psalm 86:11

The prayer for the Psalm 86 verse might be something like this:  Give me understanding and wisdom, so that my reason and emotion work together and move towards your truth.

Several months ago, when I couldn't sleep one night, it was around 2am, I got up and started reading the last chapter of that book.  The section happened to be on the mind, community and love.  First Corinthians 13, the chapter on love, was the passage under discussion.  

Several pages into that discussion, the idea of developing love, by being known, was introduced.  God both knows us and loves us.

Then I read, "We are to be people who are as fully known by each other as possible."  

Maybe because it was the early morning hours, and my brain was open to thought, but I had a sudden understanding and grasp on this topic and on life.  Unfortunately, I don't remember my thinking!

But I did write in the book - The relationships are the work.

I run a small thrift store at my church.  And I've learned that it's not about selling items.  It's about the people.  I have volunteers who know and care for each other.  I have shoppers who talk with me, and talk with each other.  It's about people connecting, knowing one another, and loving.  The relationships are the work. 

And it's not just in a church environment that this is true.  I also learned while in the Marine Corps that there's something in each person to love and to value, that it's worth getting to know people.

I think our greatest hardships and our greatest joys happen in the context of our relationships. 

We can picture all our work and doings each day as being huge platforms or stages that enable us to learn how to love, to know others, and to be known by them.  The relationships are the work, no matter what the backdrop is. 

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  1 John 3:1

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God...No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.  1 John 4:7,12

 

Responding to a Skeptic

Recently some pro-atheism videos showed up on my YouTube home page.  I watched a few of them, and I'm intrigued by what I've heard.

The videos are made by a young atheist who grew up in an evangelical Christian family.  By his own admission, he was a zealous and dedicated Christian.  Then he went to college, took some science courses, and started doubting the Biblical creation account.  Now he makes his living by producing videos to help other people deal with their atheism.

I could respond to him by reviewing the arguments for and against God, or I could analyze evolution versus creationism.  But I'm really intrigued by the "heart" of what I'm hearing from this man and by the Christian "environment" he grew up in.

He said that he was taught and/or believed that:

• Only people in his denomination were true Christians.
• He could only listen to music that honored Christ and was Christian based.
• Christianity is about behaving a certain way, following certain rules and ideas.

Modern American Christianity has many "brands."  And popular Christian teachers who promote various teachings are, by definition, attractive to Christians.  Most of these writers and speakers profess the basics of the Christian faith.  And they often have helpful advice and teachings about relationships and daily living.

But these teachers have a big potential to lead people astray, and that's the reason I'm so critical and cautious about them and their teachings.

You see, we're all legalists.  Give us a topic or a task, and we'll make rules.  For instance:

• What can I do or not do on the Sabbath?
• What does it mean to tithe?
  
• What clothes are appropriate for Christians?
• What music, movies, and books are acceptable?
• How should I wear my hair?
• What about make-up, tattoos, jewelry?
• Public vs private vs homeschool?
• What foods can I eat?
• Medicines and vaccines?
• How should I interpret the Bible?  What version?
  

While Christians live in this world, day-to-day, the heart of the gospel they believe gets forgotten and missed, and I know this because I'm guilty of forgetting it!  We all want and tend to "move beyond" the sin and salvation message.  Christianity becomes about how we live, about our good works.

Individual Christians, teachers, pastors, churches, and Christian organizations, even out of good intentions, can fall into this trap of legalism and works righteousness.  And it's always doomed to fail.

But Jesus has something to say on this.  In the Sermon on the Mount, He makes this well-known statement:

You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery."  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28

Later in Matthew, Jesus says:

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.                           Matthew 15:19

Even if we, as Christians, could always follow the law perfectly, we're still guilty.  And we know it!  

Jeremiah says:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  Jeremiah 17:19

Sin is a part of our being.  It's why we can't control our hearts, our feelings, our thoughts, our desires.  Sin goes deeper than our works.

Paul says this about himself:

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Romans 7:15

This is the reality of the Christian's life - it's a tension and a struggle between our sinful nature and the Spirit that lives within us.  And it's hard.  Even when we do what's right, we don't always think it.  Or we act saintly out of pride, so others can see us.

But the beauty of this tension is - in knowing my sin and my broken heart, in knowing my helplessness - it's in this and this alone that I can so deeply understand and appreciate the reason for, and the power and the beauty of the cross - of Jesus dying for my sins.  

In other words, if I didn't have some concept of my own sin, the sin that's deep within me, then the cross would make no sense.  And when the cross makes no sense, we make up rules for ourselves and others to follow.  We're all Pharisees at heart.

In Romans, Paul diagnoses and convicts us all, and then gives us the good news.

For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.              Romans 10:3-4

So, in a round-about way, my question to this young atheist is, "What do you do with your sin, the sin deep inside of you?"